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Talk:Oregon Trail 2/@comment-174.238.6.39-20190929003942
Here are some random tips to help you on your next run, in no particular order! 1. It’s nearly always the best option to use oxen. They’re strong, they’re economical, and they are usually easy to replace. Mules ''do ''fare better in desert regions, and horses are a valuable trading commodity in the East (although they aren’t worth very much in the West.) But desert is such a rare thing to encounter that it’s not worth the time you’ll lose with mules and horses getting exhausted before you get there. Oxen do seem to get sick more often, but it’s still not as much of a delay. Besides, the score you get at the end is the same for all three, so you might as well not bother with mules or horses. 2. There’s a lot of supplies you’d be better off without: they take up too much room, and don’t provide any bonus. Some items may improve morale slightly, but unless you’re an adventurer or trail guide, it doesn’t matter much to you, but it could slow your wagon train. Get a few tools like an axe, hammer, and some cookware, and maybe a pitchfork (good for gathering hay in meadows before desert regions) and a pickaxe (helps to clear trail obstructions). Always bring a few water kegs; it helps if there’s no water in certain regions. 3. Clothing actually ''is ''important. You don’t need the expensive clothing sets from the general store, though; I recommend going to the clothing outfitter and getting at least one, and preferably two, of each of the following items for each member of your party: hats, shirts, pants, socks, boots. It’s much better for your wagon weight ''and ''your wallet! If you’re starting in winter, or think you might encounter snow, get one winter jacket for each party member. 4. You don’t need one of every medicine. The basics you should bring are: peppermint, laudanum, hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl alcohol, camphor, and epsom salt. It’s not that the others are without use, but you’re not likely to encounter the diseases they treat. Quinine, for instance, only treats malaria, and in my hundreds of runs, I’ve only ever encountered that once, and I was resting in a ‘bad mosquito’ area to see if I could get it to appear. If you want to be extra prepared, bring along some aloe vera and lecithin, for various rashes and the grippe, should you encounter it during winter months. 5. If you’re trying to get a high score, your diet doesn’t need to vary as much as you think. It probably helps morale a bit to have several types of food, but you can even get by without buying meat, let alone expensive dried bread and rice. If you buy anything, make it flour. It is by far the cheapest per pound, so it’s the best economical choice. If you’re bringing meat, buy bacon; 200 pounds per person should do pretty well. Dried fruit and vegetables should be a huge part of your food budget, too; they’re hard to find on the trail, so load up while you can, at minimum 100 bags for a 6-man journey. If you’re unlucky enough to run out of fruit and veggies on the trail, pickles will do fine to prevent scurvy, as will vinegar, in a pinch. They’re usually readily available at forts and towns. Vinegar is also great for treating alkali sickness, so it’s worth the money, in my opinion. 6. When setting up your wagon party, don’t bother making some members children or elders; they’re most prone to disease, exhaustion, injury, and drowning. You’re better off making everybody age 20-25, because there’s no score bonus for not doing so. 7. When hunting or gathering wild plants, don’t do it if there is alkali water, bad water, or no water. In my experience, the food you get is likely to cause illness anywhere from alkali sickness to cholera and dysentery. Hunting is also best done with a rifle; don’t buy a shotgun or pistol. Buy a sheath, too – the guidebook says it decreases the chance of accidents, which is definitely worth it, since gunshot wounds can become infected and kill quickly, and sometimes an accidental gunshot will kill you instantly, ending the game. If you’re mauled by an animal, treat it properly, but if it was a rabid animal (and there’s no way to tell until you contract rabies), you are assured death within the month. 8. Never talk to strangers. They do have interesting dialogue sometimes, and can trade with you, but you already can trade at any time, and approaching strangers increases the likelihood of robbery. It’s not worth it. 9. When crossing rivers, I always caulk and float in 2 ½ feet of water or more, unless there’s a free or low-priced ferry or toll bridge. The later the year you start in (1860 being the latest), the more likely the ferry or bridge will be free. Icy rivers are a risk, too; generally, if it’s still March or earlier, you have a good chance of crossing successfully. Check the temperature, too; I never cross on the ice if the temperature is more than 32 degrees. Instead, rest a day and see if it thaws or gets colder. Crossing a river, ice or not, in rainy or snowy weather is never a good idea. Rest by a river is a good idea for morale, and it’s possible (but unlikely) that you’ll catch fish if you brought the proper equipment. 10. Hills are honestly my least favorite part of the game. Unlike a river, which lets you continue even if you tip over, you can tip multiple times on the same hill, and lose a ton of supplies, and even cause injuries (cuts and abrasions should be treated with an astringent, and with an antiseptic if they get infected). The guidebook can provide some insight as to what each of the options means, but really it’s a crapshoot any way you go. Never ascend or descend a hill in rainy or snowy weather, and if you can avoid doing it on an icy or muddy hill, it helps. You can generally continue up or down hills that aren’t that steep, but if your wagon is heavy, double team. With ropes or chains, locking wheels, or anchoring the wagon, they seem to have at least decent success rates, but it’s still a risk. The best advice is not to overload your wagon. Buy a small farmwagon at the beginning and a few extra draft animals if you think you may have a heavy load. 11. The guidebook has great advice for different diseases. It’s even good to use it when you receive the “unknown ailment” prompt, as you can match the symptoms up to an entry in the ‘diseases’ section. As general advice, increase fluid intake for colds and grippe (unless you have lecithin for grippe), camphor for concussions, peppermint for cholera and water poisoning, and if you have the option to try and reduce or control fever, use it. For injuries, cleaning and dressing the wound is usually good, although cuts and abrasions should get astringent. Infections get antiseptic, but if you have sulfur and no antiseptic, that has a lower success rate. Broken bones should be set, but sprains should be soaked in Epsom saltwater, or immobilized if you don’t have any. Snakebites need the tourniquet/suction method, which you should NOT do in real life, but 19th century pioneers didn’t have antivenom. Rest at forts and in adverse weather, and you probably won’t encounter much but a few sprains and colds. 12. I can’t stress this enough: Do. Not. Take. Cutoffs. This only applies on adventurer and trail guide levels, but if you’re choosing a path, shortcuts are usually rough trail, have obstructions, and can cause delays and injuries. Most of the time, they have bad water, alkali water, or no water at all, and that’s obviously not worth it. The hunting tends to be a little better on shortcuts, but you really should only hunt if you’re getting low on food (because of the frequency of accidents), and if you’re that unfortunate, you really can’t risk a shortcut. Some of the shortcuts aren’t even shorter than the main trail! The Hastings Cutoff, for example, was what delayed the famous Donner Party so long that they were snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas. This, by the way, will absolutely happen to you if you don’t reach the Sierra Nevadas by October 1 on your way to California. 13. There’s no need to decrease rations or quicken your pace except in dire straits. Both of these will hurt your health considerably in a short time. I’d really only quicken the pace or decrease rations (never both) if I need to conserve food when I’m almost to a fort or town. But even this is ill-advised; unless you’re literally about to starve, you should slaughter a draft animal before you attempt this, and buy a new one at the fort or town. 14. Broken wagon parts will be more frequent on rough trails, and with heavy wagons. As I suggested before, use a small farmwagon (Conestogas are great for the prairie, but not in the mountains) to supplement if you need extra supplies. There’s not much you can do for the rough trail, except take breaks for your animals if you encounter a week or so of rough terrain. I hope this helps some of you! <3